Few days after the commemoration of the death anniversary of a General turned President Ziaur Rahman, my school friend, a liberation war veteran and was with the ‘Crack Platoon’, which wrecked the morale of marauding Pakistan military and their cohorts wanted me to review an article which he plans to publish and later distribute the printed article to certain stakeholders at home and abroad.
Promptly I raised an objection, which he believes that the liberation war decorated Major Ziaur Rahman (later General and then President) had declared the independence of Bangladesh.
He mentioned that he went over to a rebel radio station (Swadhin Bangla Biplobi Betar Kendra) at Kalurghat in Chattogram (Chittagong) and made the broadcast on 27th March 1971.Cannot deny, it’s true!
I explained if we agree hypothetically that the independence was declared on the 27th, why Bangladesh’s Independence Day is celebrated on the 26th of March? Hearing my argument over the telephone, he was furious and burst into anger.
I also added fuel to fire when I said the controversial issue of the declaration of independence had been buried once and for all after a landmark judgement by the Supreme Court in 2009 that it was not Major Zia who declared the independence, instead was Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Nevertheless, the liberation war history says, a group of rebel broadcasters fled the Chattogram station of Radio Pakistan with archaic radio transmitter equipment and established a rebel radio station at Kalurghat, where a transmission centre had poor facilities to broadcast.
The plan for a clandestine radio was finalised after the infamous genocidal crackdown “Operation Searchlight” launched by the marauding Pakistan military on the night of 25th March 1971.
Senior Awami League leader MA Hannan took the courage to broadcast several times the secret message of independence by Bangabandhu Sheikh Muibur Rahman in Bangla from the Kalurghat rebel radio station on 26th March.
Soon after, the clandestine radio broadcasters approached Major Ziaur Rahman a rebel officer of the 8th East Bengal Regiment for two reasons. First, to provide security forthe station, and second, to announce on behalf of the rebellion East Bengal Regiment. He nodded to the proposal and proceeded with a small contingent of troops to Kalurghat and made the historic announcement of the declaration of independence.
His first broadcast in English was: I, Major Ziaur Rahman, Provincial Head of the government, do hereby declare the Independence of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh.
It took several illustrious political leaders at the time in Chittagong — AK Khan, MR Siddiqui and AR Mallick — to have him amend his statement and go forth for a second announcement in the name of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Later on the same day (27 March), a second broadcast was read:I, Major Ziaur Rahman, on behalf of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, hereby declare that the independent People’s Republic of Bangladesh has been established.
The broadcast was heard in many places in Bangladesh and also picked by Agartala journalists and the breaking news was transmitted by PTI, which was well received by different quarters.
When the broadcast of Major Zia was made on the 27th, the people of Bangladesh experienced the worst nightmare of genocide, while tens of thousands were fleeing from Dhaka and fringe areas to safety.
After the news of this declaration was broadcast by Radio Australia, the rest of the world came to know of it. Inside Bangladesh, those who heard Swadhin Bangla Biplobi Betar Kendraand Radio Australia rapidly passed on the historic declaration in whispers to friends, neighbours and strangers.
Pakistan authorities made futile attempts to convince the radio audience that the broadcast was made by a clandestine radio from a ship at the confluence of river Hooghly in India. Islamabad even sent a note of protest also to New Delhi.
The rebel broadcast was indeed inspirational, especially when Major Zia’sannouncement of Bangladesh’s independence was heard. The announcement and call for rebellion from the clandestine radio was a ray of hope amidst hopelessness.
General Zia never publicly questioned Bangabandhu’s place in history. In the early months of his presidency, he had some officials of Bangladesh Betar bring him the tape of his 27 March 1971 independence speech. He listened to it several times.
When a sycophantic radio official suggested that the speech could be edited in any way the General wished, meaning probably that all references to Bangabandhu could be erased and the speech sanitised for the dictator, Zia coolly told him, and the others present that, “History cannot be changed” and walked out of the room, wrote Syed Badrul Ahsan.
General Zia was the first military ruler, who rose to power through bloodshed and mayhem in November 1975. He survived innumerable abortive coups, eventually succumbing to a military putsch in Chittagong on 30 May 1981.
The career of General Ziaur Rahman was an endless interplay of light and darkness where darkness overwhelmingly dominated light, concludes leading political commentator Syed Badrul Ahsan.
Saleem Samad, is an independent journalist, media rights defender, recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at <saleemsamad@hotmail.com>; Twitter @saleemsamad
